Arrived late at the pool yet again, but had a little more time to play with today. I still stuck with front crawl and kick however, for a total of 2,700m. Today it felt as though the swimming was starting to become easier again, so perhaps I’m returning to the same form I had before we went on holiday.
Total distance for the month: 36,700m
Total distance for this year: 288,800m
Distance compared to annual target: 8,200m ahead
Got to the pool very late on account of trying to find a better route that avoids the closed road, so I just did 2,200m front crawl and some kick until the session ended.
Total distance for the month: 34,000m
Total distance for this year: 286,100m
Distance compared to annual target: 7,500m ahead
First day back at the usual indoor pool, and a pleasure to swim in cooler water, if quite hard work getting back into the swing of things. To celebrate I added a few hundred metres each of kick and bilateral breathing practice to the usual front crawl and covered 2.8km in total.
The bad news is that a few hundred metres of road on my route to the pool has been completely closed and traffic diverted along a route that probably gets close to an extra twenty miles. The only shorter routes involve lots of single track backroads with limited numbers of passing places. The one I took today doubled my journey time. I’ll have to try something different tomorrow.
Total distance for the month: 31,800m
Total distance for this year: 283,900m
Distance compared to annual target: 7,300m ahead
Last swim in the outdoor pool today. The first 1,000m was very difficult and my arms felt painfully tired, but as the distance increased it all seemed to become easier and at the end I felt as though I could have gone further, but I’d reached the point of not wanting to have to avoid people any more so I stopped at 2.4km.
Total distance for the month: 29,000m
Total distance for this year: 281,100m
Distance compared to annual target: 6,500m ahead
Something definitely seems to have got messed up with my distance against target calculations somewhere. As soon as I have time I’ll go through that.
Still in the outdoor pool, but a bit different today as I was swimming with my daughter, and in the rain! It didn’t help that I was feeling a little tired, so I just did 1,800m in the end.
Total distance for the month: 26,600m
Total distance for this year: 278,700m
Distance compared to annual target: 6,100m ahead
An easier swim, largely because of the number of people to be avoided in the pool. Just 2.1km front crawl today.
Total distance for the month: 24,800m
Total distance for this year: 276,900m
Distance compared to annual target: 6,300m ahead
Back to the super-heated dodgem-fest of the outdoor pool today, and a bit of a return to form, though I did take two bites at the cherry to end up with 3km front crawl.
Total distance for the month: 22,700m
Total distance for this year: 274,800m
Distance compared to annual target: 6,200m ahead
Really feeling the tiredness in my arms today and with the warmth of the pool I just couldn’t find the energy to swim, so wimped out after 1,200m.
Total distance for the month: 19,700m
Total distance for this year: 271,800m
Distance compared to annual target: 3,200m ahead
Another hot day and the water in the outdoor pool was back up to “far too warm to be comfortable” type temperatures. I managed 3,300m, mostly front crawl, but some also did some underwater work off the walls at my daughter’s insistence (and much to her amusement given that I can’t get anywhere near as far as she can) and a little breaststroke, during which I discovered that my kick is utterly useless and provides almost no propulsion whatsoever, which is probably why I find it such hard work. Back to the drawing board with that one.
The major plus is getting ahead of schedule on my target distance for the year. I’m not actually sure I have the amount right at the moment — I need to go back and check my maths, but certainly I’m ahead one way or another.
Total distance for the month: 18,500m
Total distance for this year: 270,600m
Distance compared to annual target: 2,000m ahead
Almost six months after I started I have finally received my certification as an ASA Swimming Coach. I’d have to admit that it comes with fairly equal amounts of pride and relief. Still, onwards and upwards, eh?
